The House passed the farm bill conference report by a vote of 318-106 yesterday (May 14), giving farm organizations a major victory over the national news media and environmental and social activist groups who waged a war against it.

If House leaders can hold it together, the vote in favor should be sufficient for the House to override a threatened presidential veto. The Senate is expected to vote on the conference report today (May 15), and the bill could arrive on the president’s desk by next Tuesday (May 20).

An ebullient Collin Peterson, chairman of the House Agriculture Committee and the floor manager for the bill in the House, declined to speculate on whether the president will follow through on the administration’s oft-repeated veto threats.

“I’m not into speculating on what the White House will do - I just don’t want to talk about that now,” said Peterson, D-Minn. “I don’t know the previous numbers, but this has to be one of the biggest votes for a farm bill in a long time.”

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